Jeff firefighter Josh Stith defeated 2009 senior division freestyle champion Victor Parreno in the first round of competition on his way to winning the 76 kg (about 168 pounds) weight class at the 2011 World Police and Fire Games in New York City on Tuesday.

?It feels awesome,? Stith said. ?It hasn?t really set in yet.?

Stith and fellow Jeff firefighter Jason Wiesenauer were both slated to compete in the games over the weekend, but the landfall of Hurricane Irene postponed the freestyle wrestling competition from Sunday to Tuesday. Wiesenauer was slated to compete in the triathlon, but the event was cancelled altogether because of the weather.

?I couldn?t have done this without him,? Stith said of his training partner and coworker, ?so I felt like I had to go out there and win for him and my family and everything. He was a big part of it.?

Stith competed against a field of eight other wrestlers in the freestyle competition. Stith pinned his first two opponents ? Parreno in the second round ? and defeated a New York City police officer in the finals in three rounds, winning by a tally of 1-0 in the final round.

Stith, who is also a professional mixed martial artist, is a coach with Team Jeff, a local wrestling club affiliated with Jeffersonville High School?s wrestling program.

?It?s an awful neat thing that he?s bringing back to Jeffersonville,? Jeffersonville wrestling coach Danny Struck said. ?As a wrestling club, we?re proud that he wrestled for Jeff High, that he?s coached our kids and that he still competes within our club. It?s pretty amazing.

?The whole world?s invited to that tournament. There?s lots of tournaments out there that people say are ?national championships? or ?world championships.? It?s a true world championship. It?s the second largest sporting event in the world.?

Stith will compete for his second world championship in as many days when he wrestles in the Greco-Roman wrestling tournament before he and Wiesenauer return to Jeffersonville early Thursday.